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Elena Gilbert (novel)
Elena Gilbert is the heroine, the protagonist and the female lead character of The Vampire Diaries novel series. Elena is the soul mate and love interest of Stefan Salvatore, the best friend of Bonnie McCullough and Meredith Sulez, the former best friend-recently-turned-rival of Caroline Forbes, Matt Honeycutt's childhood friend, first love and ex-girlfriend, and Damon Salvatore's prize of possession. She is also the niece of Robert and Judith Maxwell and the elder sister of Margaret Gilbert. Elena was born in the small town of Fells Church, Virginia. Both of her parents, Mr. Thomas Gilbert and Mrs. Elizabeth Gilbert (née Morrow) had died in a tragic and fatal car accident when she was younger and because of this, she and her four year old younger sister Margaret, were taken in and raised by her Aunt Judith Gilbert, who is her father's sister. Throughout the series, Elena is called the 'Golden Girl'. In the first book of the original series The Awakening, Elena Gilbert is a high school Senior, who is very popular, extremely beautiful, admired by all the girls and the object of affection of many boys in the town of Fells Church. Elena is cool, blond and slender, the girl every boy wants and every girl wants to be. Always in control, no boy that she has seen or dated has ever stirred her innermost feelings, passions and desires until she meets a handsome, foreign, mysterious Italian boy, Stefan Salvatore. Something completely unusual about the new mysterious guy (Stefan) makes her strongly desire him with deep, profound, intense and indescribable passion, an overwhelming passion and desire that Elena has never experienced before in her entire lifetime. Immediately, indescribably and deeply drawn to Stefan with a frightening and scary intensity, Elena knows that she must be with Stefan Salvatore under any circumstances, even if it kills them both. Stefan Salvatore enrolls at her school, Robert E. Lee High School, and in the beginning, he completely ignores her attempts to attract his attention due to the extremely intense, profound, and electrifying connection the both of them share with one another. But aside from the immediate, intense, and an indescribable connection that she feels to Stefan, the combination of Stefan's outer qualities such as his quick intelligence, hard-to-get and challenging ways, loner aura, classic romance novel appearance, and distant mysterious demeanor only makes Elena desire Stefan even more and makes Elena all the more determined to be with him. However, Elena is completely unaware that Stefan Salvatore is a century old (aged 517) vampire who formerly lived in the darkness and the shadows, and is consumed with overwhelming guilt, loneliness, sadness and self-hatred. Stefan tries to start a new life for himself amongst the humans by renouncing his living in the dark shadows due to his dark, painful past. He attempts to ignore Elena at first for one reason out of many, aside from the extremely overwhelming, powerful and intense connection he has with Elena, she also ironically happens to be the near perfect double or doppelganger of his long lost first love which he has been tortured and tormented over for centuries, Katherine Von Swartzchild, who was the beautiful young vampire whom both he and his brother Damon fought over many centuries ago, rivaled and were in competition for her affections. Katherine turned both Stefan and Damon into vampires over five hundred years ago. She then "committed suicide" and the Salvatore brothers ended killing one another after fighting to the death with their swords, because each brother blamed the other for her death (later on revealed to be her fake death). When Stefan finally admits that he is deeply, passionately and strongly in love with Elena, he initially keeps his vampire nature a secret from her to protect her from himself, his dangerous brother, Damon and keep her safe. Due to this secrecy on Stefan's behalf regarding his dark, tortured and mysterious past, this causes some conflict, struggle, tension and distance in their strong mutual bond, along with many other outside forces and obstacles. At the end of The Awakening, Elena eventually discovers the deep, dark and shocking truth about Stefan and his tortured past and the fact that he is in fact, a centuries old vampire who was born during the 15th century. Elena finds out about Stefan's identity after the school's history school teacher, Mr. Tanner, is murdered brutally at the Halloween Dance. The school as well as the rest of the town of Fells Church begins to start speculating that Stefan is the killer of the town and they start to blame and accuse Stefan for the unusual murders. However, Elena strongly believes this isn't true at all and she fiercely defends Stefan, believing that he is completely and totally innocent. Elena begins to believe that the real killer of Mr. Tanner is not Stefan, but Stefan's elder, malevolent and dangerous brother Damon, who has been trying to seduce her on the sly and trying to possess her whole entire being in order to hurt Stefan in revenge. Elena deeply and strongly loves Stefan, though, and consistently rejects Damon's repeated advances. Physical Appearance Physically, Elena is described to be extremely beautiful and drop dead gorgeous. Because Elena is so beautiful, all of the boys in Fells Church want her and all the girls in the town want to be like her. Because of this, Elena does exhibit a bit of selfishness, pride and vanity. This is displayed in a quote in Shadow Souls: "I ....don't think it's vain to say that I am beautiful. If I did not know I was, I would have to have never looked in a mirror or heard a compliment. It's not something I should be proud of—it's just something that was passed down from Mom and Dad." There are repeated references throughout the series that state that she looks like an angel or "angelic" in appearance (the references to her looking like an angel were first used by Stefan). Physically, Elena is described as having an intriguing eye color which is the same color as a Lapis Lazuli stone (a deep, dark blue). Her eyes also have flecks of gold in them; this is meant to be a parallel to the lapis lazulidaylight rings in which vampires (such as the Salvatore Brothers and Katherine) must wear in order to walk around during the day, as well as stay alive in the sunlight so that they do not burn. In some scenes, her eyes are mentioned to have some shades of violet in them as well, as referenced in The Awakening, when she wears her violet colored homecoming dance dress, which helps to bring out the violet in her eyes. Elena has the thick, straight and very long hair (reaching above her waist). Elena's hair is quite long in length but her hair is not nearly since Katherine's (whose hair was extra long; trailing behind her like that of a train on a dress and pooling on the floor). Elena's hair is a soft pale gold in coluring and her hair texture is described as silky and smooth. Her hair is said to be a few shades lighter than Katherine's. Elena's eyebrows and her long eyelashes are a darker blond compared to that of her head hair. Her skin tone is described as being very white, pale and fair (said to be similar to that of a magnolia flower). Elena's skin is very translucent, which means that her blue veins and fjords are easily visible all over her body. Her complexion is described to be smooth, flawless, perfect, and translucent. Stefan has stated that Elena's skin reminds him of swans, alabaster or porcelain. Because of her fair skin and complexion, Elena does not tan easily and can get easily sunburned. Because of Elena's fair hair and skin, this was probably part of the reason why Elena has the nicknames Snow Queen, Ice Queen and Ice Princess. Elena is described to have a gorgeous body and her physique is described as being slim and slender. She is of average height for a teenage girl, between 5'3" and 5'6" and Stefan has said that Elena is taller than Katherine (who was described as petite) by "a good hand span". Elena is quite a bit taller than Bonnie (who is very petite in stature), but she is shorter than Meredith (who is described to be quite tall). In Shadow Souls, Elena describes her physical appearance as follows: "What do I look like? I have blonde hair that falls in sort of waves passed my shoulders and blue eyes that some people have said are like Lapis Lazuli; dark blue with splashes of gold. Maybe that is why vampires like me" (pg. 3, Shadow Souls). Stefan has described Elena's physical appearance in The Awakening: "Still, the resemblance was uncanny. That pale golden hair, so fair, it almost seemed to shimmer. That creamy skin, which had always made him think of swans, or alabaster, flushing faintly pink over the cheekbones. And the eyes...Katherine's eyes had been a color he had never seen before; darker than sky blue, as rich as the Lapis Lazuli in her jeweled headband. This girl had the same eyes" (p. 26, The Awakening). Stefan has made frequent comparisons between Elena and Katherine, due to the similarities in their physical appearance but Stefan almost immediately realizes that beneath the looks, Elena and Katherine are two completely different individuals. Stefan says that Elena is significantly emotionally stronger and that Katherine was much more fragile and vulnerable. It is because of Elena's physical resemblance to his old flame Katherine, that Stefan makes all the attempts to ignore Elena in the very beginning because Elena reminds him of her, and it brings up old, painful memories of his life with Katherine in the past. Elena's physical resemblance to Katherine is also the main reason why Stefan's elder, dangerous brother Damon, is also strongly attracted to her and wants to possess her. A good summary of how Elena looks would be to say that she has the jewel blue eyes and long blonde hair with a gorgeous slender body. Personality Personality wise, Elena is described as a very beautiful and popular seventeen year old teenage girl from Fells Church, Virginia. Although Elena is extremely physically beautiful, she is still known to be the girl next door. In the very beginning of the series, Elena was in competition to be the Queen of Robert E. Lee High School with former friend and newly turned rival, Caroline Forbes. Elena is the girl that every boy wants and every girl wants to be. She is cool, likeable, approachable and popular. Elena is extremely active socially and she is on the Senior Welcoming Committee at her high school. Although Elena may be beautiful and popular, she is far from perfect and has many flaws and imperfections within her personality. Elena initially comes off as very shallow, bossy, selfish, childish, competitive, self-absorbed, vain, proud, overly headstrong and extremely spoiled, especially in the very beginning of the series. However, although she possesses these flaws within her personality, she is still a good person, is a kind individual, and someone who loves and cares about her family and friends strongly. She is outgoing, brave, active, optimistic, determined, loyal, protective and strong willed. Elena is a very good leader and therefore, is good at leading situations. As the series progresses, she is willing to put her life at risk and do anything to help the people she loves and cares about. Elena has suffered and endured much loss, grief, pain and tragedy in her very young teenage life, mostly due to the loss of her parents in a tragic, fatal car accident. She has stated repeatedly that she always used boys and treated the opposite sex as if they were prizes and trophies; using them as a way to enhance her vanity, self-confidence and self-esteem. None of the boys that she has ever encountered, met, or dated (including Matt Honeycutt, her first love since childhood) has ever had an enormous, unusual, and highly influential impact on her the way that Stefan Salvatore has. Elena has had many boyfriends in the past and because of this, she is often perceived to be somewhat promiscuous. Although she had always treated boys' as prizes, she never saw Matt Honeycutt (her childhood best friend and first love) that way. She genuinely loves and cares about him, but more like a best friend, companion, cousin or a brother. Matt and Elena have an easygoing connection and he has influenced her in a positive way. Elena breaks up with Matt at the beginning of the school year, thinking that even though she loves Matt, that there is still something "missing". She still loves and cares about him like a best friend. Matt still looks out for her and he is also incredibly supportive of her as well. Elena has been best friends with Bonnie McCullough and Meredith Sulez since the first grade. She was also a very close friend with Caroline Forbes since kindergarten, although the two had become rivals mostly due to the competitiveness between them when it comes social status and popularity. Elena has been nicknamed 'Ice Princess' by many, for she sometimes possesses the personality trait of being cold towards others (especially towards males as with Tyler Smallwood in The Awakening), however, she immediately and dramatically becomes a much warmer, selfless, giving, kinder, open-minded, compassionate and spiritually awakened individual after she meets Stefan. Outside personalities wise, Elena's the complete opposite of Stefan in many ways. Elena is outgoing, Stefan is shy or quiet. Elena is popular, Stefan is more of a loner (though he eventually opens up and makes friends). Elena is more headstrong and aggressive, Stefan is more laid back and passive. Elena is more idealistic and optimistic, Stefan is more cynical and pessimistic. Elena is vain and selfish, Stefan is humble and selfless. Elena is more cheerful, Stefan is more brooding. Elena is self-confident, Stefan is self hating and self-loathing. Although everyone seems to be convinced of Elena's intelligence, her academic performance actually seems somewhat uneven. Mr. Tanner says that Elena is failing history, and no one corrects him. Elena says she doesn't care if she fails trigonometry. She is enrolled in a General Business class even though she is a senior. Elena frequently writes in her own personal journal or diary and records all her inner thoughts, dreams, passions and desires. She mostly writes about her life, her family, her friends and mostly about Stefan. Bonnie comments in Elena's diary when she first died that Elena was far from perfect and while she was never an angel, she died a good person. After Elena is dead (following Katherine's death), Bonnie describes her in her diary:'' "She was not a saint. She was not always sweet and honest and agreeable. But she was strong and loving and loyal to her friends, and in the end she did the most unselfish thing anybody could do." Before Elena starts the school year, she states in her diary that she feels strange and that something big is going to happen but she cannot describe why she feels this way. She also says that she feels like she is missing 'something' and that she doesn't know where she belongs. Elena's life dramatically changes forever on first meeting a mysterious, gorgeous new foreign student from Italy, Stefan Salvatore, who is a centuries old vampire who renounced his living in the shadows and darkness and desired to live in the daylight amongst the humans. He enrolls at Robert E. Lee High School as a high school student and it is there, where Stefan inevitably and fatefully meets Elena Gilbert, whom he is immediately, undeniably and extremely intensely drawn to. Stefan had a highly unusual impact on Elena when they first met. Their first meeting was so deep, intense, indescribable and electrifying. Before meeting one another, Stefan and Elena were two dead, shattered and empty souls, who had both suffered similar, mirror experiences in terms of loss, grief and pain, and both Stefan and Elena have experienced hardships as well as heartbreak when it comes to love. For the longest time, Stefan had a hard time accepting love at all costs, feeling as though he was highly unworthy and unlovable because he was a monster and a hunter who lived in the shadows. Elena, on the other hand, had a hard time finding love and figuring out her own soul and her own heart, what she really wanted. She felt lost, unhappy and lonely despite her extreme popularity and her constant social behavior. Stefan was still dealing with the loss and grief of his first and past love, Katherine Von Swartzschild, and Elena dated many boys and had various boyfriends to cover up her unhappiness and to conceal her loneliness and inner emptiness. From the very first day when she met Stefan, Elena is immediately and undeniably drawn to him and is willing to do anything to be with him at all costs. She even gets her friends Bonnie, Meredith and even Matt, to help her with her cause. Her connection to Stefan is so overwhelming and intense that she cannot describe it or understand it herself and she states this throughout her personal diary on a daily basis. Elena states in her diary that encountering Stefan was so incredibly profound and intense, that it changed her daily life patterns, affecting her ability to eat, sleep and concentrate on anything else important, including her extra curricular activities. Elena has repeatedly described this connection with Stefan as overwhelming, intense, scary, frightening and terrifying. On arriving in Fells Church and meeting Elena physically, Stefan is able to sense immediately her consciousness, her presence and her mind, and it is extremely intense and overwhelming for him that he makes a consistent effort to ignore her and stay away from her as much as possible. Stefan also does this because he has a huge fear of harming her in any way because of his intense desire and longing for her. Stefan also tries to stay away from her, because Elena coincidentally happens to be the spitting image of his long lost past love which caused him much significant pain, Katherine von Schwartzschild. Despite the strong, mutual, and intense connection that both Stefan and Elena share with one another even from afar, Elena is taken back when Stefan repeatedly makes attempts to avoid her and she is deeply, indescribably hurt and tortured by this. Elena has said the pain caused by Stefan avoiding her repeatedly is so incredibly painful and bad that she cannot eat, sleep or concentrate on anything important. Stefan's challenging ways and his constant escaping from her only make Elena even more eager to be with him and makes her more determined for her to stop him from running away from her. With each passing day, Elena knows deep down that she must be with Stefan, but she cannot explain why. Curiosity completely takes over her and she does everything she can to find out all about Stefan with the help of her friends. Her current rival Caroline Forbes, also takes a significant interest in Stefan as well, causing the rivalry between Caroline and Elena to heat up intensely. Elena's school reputation is important to her, so she makes up a fake boyfriend named Jean-Claude, to hide her deep feelings for Stefan. Caroline becomes intensely envious of Elena when Stefan eventually begins to bond with Elena and also reciprocate Elena's affections. Elena is deeply, madly, intensely, passionately and unconditionally in love with Stefan Salvatore. She states consistently throughout the course of the series how she feels incredible magnetic and electrifying intensity, love and passion between them but strangely at the same time, she also feels a sense of warmth, comfort, safety, stability and security when she is with him or in his presence. Elena has frequently said that she feels "home" when she is with Stefan. Immediately after meeting Stefan, Elena becomes an irrevocably enlightened individual. She experiences an intense inner spiritual awakening, both before and on meeting him; overwhelming feelings in which she has never felt before in her lifetime. Elena has said in so many words in her diary that for the first time in her life, she feels incredibly alive and happy. In some ways, Stefan has a special influence on her that even Elena cannot seem to understand at times. Elena loves Stefan with a fiery passion and unconditional love. She is loyal and protective of him and will do absolutely anything and everything for him, including sacrificing her own life, risking her own life and dying for him. Elena has stated that if she Stefan dies, she will die with him. In the beginning of the series, although Elena had everything she wanted in life and appeared to be generally content with what she had on the outside (her beauty, her popularity, her status etc.), Elena was deeply, painfully lonely and incredibly sad and empty on the inside. When she first met Stefan and began to develop a deeper bond with him, her loneliness and inner emptiness was immediately evaporated away and she became an alive soul; she became a significantly happy and content individual. Elena's connection with Stefan is so intense, profound and powerful, that she has said that she is able to read Stefan's thoughts (while she was still human, before she was a vampire and a spirit) and feel Stefan's feelings. These senses between Stefan and Elena became significantly more intense when Elena becomes a vampire and especially after Elena came back from the afterlife. Stefan and Elena often have telepathic communication with one another. Stefan and Elena are bound together by a silver cord (a.k.a the Red Sting of Fate, Silver Cord of Fate, Cord of Love, Cord of Fate, Cord of Destiny, the Twin Soul Concept or more commonly, the Soulmate Principle), which is a bendable, non-breakable string or thread, connecting destined soul mates and true lovers from heart to heart (soul to soul). This implies that Stefan and Elena are destined lovers for all eternity and in many, many lifetimes beyond (including the afterlife), that they are unbreakable and inseparable regardless of time, space and distance. This was revealed in Shadow Souls when Elena had an out of body experience while having an intense lucid dream about Stefan. She then saw the silver cord connecting her soul to Stefan's soul, therefore, using their silver cord connection to be able to visit Stefan in spirit while he was in the prison in the Dark Dimension. Despite the eternal bond and unconditional love that Stefan and Elena have for one another, Stefan and Elena have a somewhat chaotic, tumultuous relationship. The reason for this is due to obstacles and outside forces that consistently try to keep them apart. These obstacles include personal inner struggles that both Stefan and Elena have endured as individuals, unusual events occurring in the town of Fell's Church and also many outside forces "deliberately" separating Stefan and Elena from one another beyond their control (i.e. Stefan being trapped in a prison in the Dark Dimension). Although Elena possesses the flaws of sometimes being too headstrong and a little selfish, Stefan brings out her best inner qualities and Elena has written in her journal that Stefan makes her a significantly much better person and that he makes her blissfully happy. Like Stefan, Elena can be very stubborn. Elena has a deep, strong and passionate romantic relationship with Stefan although, later in the series, she does realize that she is strongly drawn and attracted to Stefan's elder, malevolent and dangerous brother, Damon. Damon is the complete and total opposite of Stefan in terms of morality, temperament, personality, outlook on life and compassion and regard for human life. While Stefan has a very strong hold on his humanity and has a highly strong regard for human life, Damon wants to harm, hunt, torture and kill many humans for fun without any guilt or remorse. Unlike Stefan, Damon views human beings as objects and as food to sustain vampires strength and power. Unlike Stefan, who hates being an immortal and who refuses to kill innocent people just for the sake of succumbing to drinking human blood for power, Damon strongly enjoys vampirism and greatly revels in killing innocent human life for their blood for his own selfish reasons. In regards to Elena, Damon wants to possess Elena mind, body and soul and he will stop at nothing to possess her, control her, and take her away from Stefan at all costs and make her his 'Princess of Darkness'. He will even kill other innocent humans, including his very own brother Stefan (who Elena is deeply, strongly and passionately in love with), to possess her. Because of Damon's extreme obsession with possessing Elena, he has threatened Stefan's life on many occasions. There have been times when Elena has almost given into Damon's influence but she has repeatedly remained stoically loyal to Stefan and her profound, unbreakable love for him. Damon has repeatedly tried to coerce and force Elena to join the dark side with him (the "winning side", as Damon calls it), live in the shadows of darkness alongside him for all eternity by turning her into a vampire, and to crown her his Princess of Darkness, but Elena consistently displays her stoic loyalty and fierce devotion to Stefan by defying Damon's wish. Elena has repeatedly said that she does not want to live in the darkness and the shadows and that she desires to live in the light amongst her friends, family and with her beloved Stefan.This, of course, strongly angers Damon greatly and has caused Damon to become intensely jealous, envious and hateful of his younger brother. Elena dies twice throughout the course of the series, changing from a mortal human to a vampire (after she gets enough blood from both Salvatore brothers, where her killer, Katherine, thought she only got blood from one boy, the one boy being Stefan) to a spirit of the afterlife (after an unknown power brings her back). In Nightfall, she comes back as a perfectly normal human albeit with supernatural angelic, spiritual powers intact, making her blood extremely irresistible to all vampires and also, to all supernatural creatures, entities, beings. Elena has an incredibly strong sexual, romantic relationship (although rather up and down, tumultuous in the beginning and during the original trilogy) with Stefan Salvatore, which is the basis of the entire series, although in the later books, she starts to develop deep feelings for Damon as well. Etymology First Name *Elena is a feminine first name of Greek origin ''‘Ελενη (Elene) or ‘ελενη (Elene) which means "torch". The meaning of Elena is "the bright one" or "light". It is a variation of the name Helen''.' *Helen is the English form of the Greek ‘Ελενη (Helene), probably from Greek ‘ελενη (Helene), which means "torch" or "corposant", or possibly related to σεληνη (Selene) which means "moon". In Greek mythology, Helen was the daughter of Zeus and Leda, whose kidnapping by Paris of Troy was the cause of the Trojan War. The name was also borne by the 4th-century Saint Helena, mother of the Roman emperor Constantine, who supposedly found the True Cross during a trip to Jerusalem.The name was originally used among early Christians in honour of the saint, as opposed to the classical character. In England it was commonly spelled Ellen during the Middle Ages, and the spelling Helen was not regularly used until after the Renaissance. *In Middle English, the name Elena is a tri-syllabic word - E-le-nah (English and Italian). In other languages, it is e-LE-nah (Spanish), ye-LYE-nah (Russian), and ee-LYE-nah (Russian). *Common variants of Elena include Ileana (Spanish), Ileana (Romanian), Helena, Jelena (Croatian), Helena, Jelena (Slovene), Ilona (Lithuanian), Yelena (Russian), and Helena, Helene, Ilona (German). *Some diminutive variants of Elena are Lenuța (Romanian), Jela, Jelka (Croatian), Alena, Jelka (Slovene), Alyona, Lena (Russian), and Alena, Lena, Lene, Leni (German). *Other language versions of Elena include Helena, Helene (Ancient Greek), Елена (Bulgarian), Helena, Alena, Ilona, Lenka (Czech), Eli, Lena, Lene (Danish), Heleen, Helena, Heleentje (Dutch), Elaine, Ellen, Helen, Helena, Ella, Elle, Ellie, Elly, Hellen, Lainey, Laney, Lena, Nelda, Nell, Nella, Nelle, Nellie, Nelly (English), Shelena (English (African American)), Helena, Leena (Estonian), Eliina, Elina, Helena, Heleena, Heli, Ilona, Leena (Finnish), Hélène (French), Elene (Georgian), Elene, Eleni (Greek), Helen, Helena, Helene (Greek Mythology), Heléna, Ili, Ilka, Ilona, Ilonka (Hungarian), Léan (Irish), Helēna, Jeļena, Ilona (Latvian), Eli, Lena, Lene (Norwegian), Helena, Ilona, Lena (Polish), Helena, Lena (Portuguese), Elin, Helena, Helene, Ella (Scandinavian), Eilidh (Scottish), Jelena (Serbian), Helena, Alena, Lenka (Slovak), Elina, Lena, Lennie, Lenny (Swedish), Olena, Lesya (Ukrainian), Elen, Elin (Welsh), Elaine (Welsh Mythology). * More versions of Elena in other languages include Ænor (Provençal), Aileen (Scottish), Aili (Estonian, Finnish), Alena (Czech, German, Slovakian, Spanish), Aleyna (Turkish), Alenka (Slovenian), Aliénor (Occitan), Aliona (Russian), Alyena (Russian), Alyiona (Russian), Alyona (Russian), Ealanor (Gaelic), Eileanóra (Irish), Eileen (Irish), Eilidh (Scottish Gaelic), Eilonóra (Gaelic), Elaine (English), Ela (Polish, Turkish), Elea (English), Eleanor (English), Eleanora (English), Eleanore (English), Eleonóra (Hungarian), Elen (Estonian), (Norwegian), (Welsh), Elena (Bulgarian, Greek, Italian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Manx, Persian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovakian, Spanish), Eleni (Greek), Elenie (Georgian, Greek), Elenka (Czech), Élénora (French), Elenora (English), Eleonoora (Finnish), Eleonor (English), Eleonora (German, Italian, Polish), Eléonore (French), Eleonore (German), Eli (Norwegian), Eliana (Portuguese), Éliane (French), Eliina (Finnish), Elin (Estonian, Norwegian, Welsh), Elina (Estonian, Finnish, Russian), Eline (Dutch), Elinor (English), Elinore (French), Eliora (Hebrew), Ella (English, Finnish, (Polish), Elle (English, Estonian), Ellen (Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian), Elli (Finnish), Ellie (English), Ellin (Welsh), Ellinor (Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish), Elly (English), Elna (Danish, Finnish), Elnora (English), Elya (Russian), Ena (Irish), Galina (Russian), Galya (Russian), Helana, Haliana (Polish), Halina (Polish), Halya (Ukrainian), Halyna (Ukrainian), Hela (Polish), Heleainná Sami, Heleen (Dutch), Heleena (Finnish), Heleentje (Dutch), Helen (Estonian, Turkish), Helená Sami, Helena (Catalan, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Finnish, Galician, German, Greek, Greenlandic, Latvian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Slovakian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Polish, Turkish), Hélène (French), Helene (Danish, Finnish, German, Norwegian, Swedish), Helenka (Hungarian, Polish), Heli (Estonian, Finnish), Helin (Turkish), Hellae (Greek), Hellais (Greek), Hellen (English), Iiliit (Greenlandic), Ileana (Romanian, Spanish), Ili (Hungarian), Iliana (Spanish), Ilka (Hungarian), Ilona (Finnish, Hungarian, Latvian, Polish), Ilonka (Hungarian, Polish), Iluska (Hungarian), Jelena (Croatian, Latvian, Russian, Serbian), Jelka (Croatian, Slovenian), Laina (Finnish), Laine (Estonian, Latvian), Lainey (English), Laney (English), Léan (Irish), Léana (Irish), Leanora (English), Leena (Estonian, Finnish), Lele (German), Lelya (Russian), Lena (Danish, English, Finnish, German, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Swedish, Polish), Lenchen (German), Lenci (Hungarian), Lene (Danish, German, Norwegian), Leni (German), Lenka (Slovenian, Slovakian), Lenora (English, Polish), Lenore (English), Lenuţa (Romanian), Leonor (Portuguese, Spanish), Leonora (Dutch, Italian, Russian, Spanish), Leonore (German), Liena (Latvian), Liene (Latvian), Liina (Estonian, Finnish), Lina (Italian), Line (Dutch), Liolya (Russian), Lora (English, Italian, Polish), Lore (German), Nel (Dutch), Nelda (English), Nélida (Spanish), Nell (English), Nelle (English), Nelli (Russian, Finnish, Hungarian), Nellie (English), Nelly (English), Nelya (Russian), Nóirín (Irish), Noora (Finnish), Nora (Basque, English, Irish, Italian, Polish), Norah (English, Irish), Noreen (English, Irish), Norina (Italian), Nóra (Hungarian), Olena (Ukrainian), Olenka (Ukrainian), Onella (Hungarian), Yelena (Russian), and Yelina (Russian). *This theme of the beautiful woman (Helen), who is the cause of a deep rivalry between two men of Greece (Paris of Troy and Menelaus of Sparta) enough to start a war, was used to great effect in season 01. Now it seems that Elena is the force uniting the Salvatore brothers (Stefan and Damon), rather than dividing them (like Katherine did). Last Name *Gilbert is a surname of Germanic origin. The English-language surname is derived from Giselbert, a mediaeval personal name composed of the following Germanic elements gisil ("pledge","hostage","noble youth") and berht ("bright", "famous"). This personal name was very popular in England during the Middle Ages. The surname is sometimes an Americanized form of numerous like-sounding Jewish surnames. *Recorded as Gilbert and the patronymic Gilbertson, this is an English surname, but one recorded throughout the British Isles. It is of Norman-French and even earlier pre 7th century Germanic origins. It derives from the personal name variously spelt as Gislebert, Guilbert or Gilebert. However spelt it is a compound with the elements "gisil", meaning a noble youth, and "berht", bright or famous. It is first recorded in England in the famous Domesday Book of 1086 and in the Latinized form of Gislebertus, and appears as a surname in the early 13th century. *The given name as Gilbert was very popular in medieval England, partly owing to the fame of St. Gilbert of Sempringham, (1086 - 1189), and the founder of the only native English monastic order. Nicknames Elena has many and various nicknames throughout the course of the series, and most of them are nicknames coined by Stefan. Elena's nicknames include: *'Golden Girl' (frequently used for Elena throughout the course of the whole series) *'Angel' (used by Stefan Salvatore only, often referring to her physical appearance) *'Golden Angel' (used by Stefan) *His Elena (referenced by Stefan) *His Angel (used and referenced by Stefan) *'Love' (used by Stefan), *'Lovely Love' (used by Stefan only) *'Little Lovely Love' (used by Stefan only) *'Ice Princess' *'Ice Queen' *'Snow Queen' *'Queen of Shadows' (used by Damon) *'Princess' (used by Damon) *'Princess of Darkness' (used by Damon) Powers and Abilities Vampire When Elena was turned into a vampire after receiving blood mostly from Stefan and also, a little from Damon, Elena possessed the standard vampire powers and abilities. *'''Superhuman Senses: Elena's vision, hearing, taste, touch and smell advanced greater than the average human. *'Super Speed:' Elena had the supernatural ability to jump, move and run at superhuman velocity. Elena had used this ability when she found out Stefan's life was in serious danger. She and Damon raced to his rescue. *'Telepathy:' The supernatural ability can communicate mentally with other vampires without physical contact and long distances. It also allows one to probe the minds of others. Elena was able to communicate with the Salvatore brothers' non-verbally as well as Bonnie, who is also telepathic due to being a psychic. This power was substantially much stronger when she was communicating telepathically with Stefan due to her soul mate connection with him. *'Compulsion (Mind Control/Influence):' Elena had the supernatural ability to control and manipulate the body, mind, and soul of any animal or person. *'Weather Control': Elena possessed the supernatural ability allows influence meteorological energy patterns, creating rain, wind, hail, lightning, snow, sleet, fog and temperature changes. *'Elemental Manipulation:' Elena had the supernatural ability to control and manipulate the elements of air, earth, fire, water, lightning, etc. *'Animal Control:' Elena has the supernatural ability that could handle all kinds of wild animals or domestic. Normally, they can only control a species at a time. *'Healing:' Elena possessed the supernatural ability to heal all infections, wounds, and injuries at an accelerated speed. *'Immortality:' Elena possessed the supernatural ability of eternal life and youth, meaning that she will never grow old or age and she is incapable of death due to human circumstances. *'Shapeshifting:' Elena had the supernatural ability to alter and change the physical form of ones self. *'Super-Strength:' Elena had the supernatural ability of abnormal strength beyond that of a normal human being. *'Illusion:' Elena was capable of disrupting the reality of one or more things at once. The power of Illusion is limited, since it uses a short time but because the neutralization of the enemy and does not usually give orders to the victims. Angel/Guardian As a human returned from the afterlife, Elena was given special abilities that power her aura. All supernatural beings can see it, so has Damon taught her how to control it and circulate it around her system. Her powers have made her blood irresistible to vampires and other supernatural creatures. Later on in the series, it was revealed that Elena possesses these special powers is because she is half angel/Guardian. *'Superhuman Senses:' Elena has learned to control her senses of hearing, vision, and smell at her own will. *'Telepathy:' Elena can communicate with Stefan, Damon and Bonnie non verbally, using her mental senses. *'Wings of Power:' Elena has several different wings, all powers given to her from the afterlife. These are her different kinds of wings: *#'Wings Of Protection '''are strong and, like the name, very useful for Elena to protect herself and whoever is there with her. *#'Wings Of Purification''' are white in colouring and can remove all sins of a person and their memories *#'Wings Of Remembrance' are violet-blue in color and can return someone's memories. *#'Wings Of Redemption '''are rainbow-colored and can redeem people of their sins. *#'Wings Of The Wind which are gold in color, were used to create wind and these wings helped her to fly. *#'''Wings Of Destruction are used to destroy things which are obstacles or are possible dangers. * Time Manipulation: Elena, like other guardians, can go back in time, causing the resurrection of the dead, memory loss, and physical restoration of the damage. * Sacred Blood: Elena's blood is the ultimate weapon to destroy all the evil creatures of the universe. It's the only thing that can destroy the Old Ones, and prevent their resurrection. Relationships Stefan Salvatore Stefan Salvatore is Elena's soulmate and love interest of the series. The two have had a very complex, tumultuous and chaotic relationship throughout the course of the series. Most of this is due to the many and various personal issues in which both Stefan and Elena have faced in their lives and also, many outside obstacles that try to keep them from being together. Upon meeting, Elena (and Stefan) is magnetically, strongly and undeniably drawn to him and Elena falls in love with Stefan at first sight. At first, Stefan repeatedly avoids Elena because of her strong resemblance to his ex vampire-girlfriend Katherine, which brings up painful memories. Although Stefan repeatedly tries to avoid Elena at all costs due to her resemblance to his past love from his dark past, but eventually succumbs to his intense feelings and attraction for Elena and falls deeply in love with her. Because Elena has a strong desire for Stefan, she breaks up with Matt at the beginning of the school year. Elena promises to herself that she will have Stefan at all costs and under any circumstances, "even if it kills them both." Elena tries to connect with Stefan mentally, emotionally and physically, but he repeatedly withdraws from her and avoids her at all costs and becomes very distant towards her. This deeply hurts Elena and makes her all the more determined to be with Stefan. At the homecoming dance, Elena takes off with Tyler Smallwood, his friend Dick Carter and Dick's date Vickie Bennett, to prove that she doesn't care after Caroline comes back and reveals that she is Stefan's date. When a drunken Tyler kisses Elena, Stefan comes to her rescue and beats up Tyler, taking Elena to his house. The two eventually fall in love, but one day Elena discovers a shocking dark secret: Stefanis a vampire who is 500 years old. She runs to his house and finds him on the roof with blood smeared on his lips after feeding on a bird. Frightned and shocked, she falls off the roof but Stefan catches her and she remains unharmed. Throughout the series, the two go through much chaos, pain and torture together, but their strong, powerful love for each other is what keeps them together. In The Hunters: Destiny Rising, Elena finally chooses Stefan over Damon to be her eternal life partner and mate. In order for Elena to live an eternity with her true soulmate, Stefan, Elena drinks a goblet of a special, pure water from the Fountain of Eternal Youth and Life, which gives eternal life and immortality to any human who drinks it. Damon Salvatore Elena and Damon first meet when he shows up at Bonnie's supper. Elena almost succumbs to Damon's compulsion and nearly kisses Damon, but at the last minute pulls away and stays loyal to Stefan. However, the two have a deep connection and she finds herself drawn to Damon, possibly because he is dangerous and unpredictable. Damon desires Elena's heart more than anyone else's and he has made it his mission to make Elena his. Because of this, Damon has become obliged with winning over Elena from his little brother, Stefan. Damon wants Elena to join alongside him in the shadows as a vampire and be his Princess Of Darkness. In, "The Struggle," he explains to Elena that by the end of winter, she will have joined him and she will be his. Soon after Damon leaves, Elena feels snowflakes, as it is the beginning of winter. When Stefan is trapped in the Dark Dimension in "Dark Reunion," Elena gives to Damon the love she would to Stefan. He tries to kiss her but she resists. In the book "The Return Shadow Souls", Elena and Damon set off to find Stefan in the Dark Demension, while sharing romantic moments together, and eventually kissing. Although, Elena has a strong connection with Damon, she will always love Stefan much more due to the Soulmate Principle shared between her and Stefan. In The Hunters: Destiny Rising, Elena finally chooses Stefan (her true soulmate) over Damon as her eternal life partner and mate. In order to control Damon from succumbing to the darkness, Elena, as a Guardian, shares a connection (which is a curse that can kill either Elena or Damon) with Damon in which the Principle Guardian created in order to control Damon from killing innocents and succumbing to darkness and evil. Bonnie McCullough Bonnie is a bubbly, charming, witty and kindhearted redhead who is a powerful psychic with supposed witch ancestry. Bonnie and Elena share a very close, deep and solid friendship. Bonnie is Elena's best friend and they have been best friends since the first grade. Elena's other very close friend is Meredith. Bonnie has helped Elena through a lot and she has been highly supportive of Elena throughout all of her issues, struggles and tragedies. Bonnie is the one Elena often turns to for emotional support and comfort. Aside from Damon being attracted to Elena, Damon also develops some feelings for Bonnie and he is protective of her. Damon thinks of Elena and Bonnie as "his girls", and though he cares deeply for Bonnie, he gives Elena more attention due to his strong attraction to her. Bonnie is a psychic, and has dreams of Elena in the other world at the beginning of the book, Dark Reunion, after Elena dies in The Fury. The two are extremely close, and are very best friends. Bonnie helps Elena find Stefan in "The Struggle," and they find him trapped in the bottom of a well, close to death. Meredith Sulez Meredith and Elena are very close friends, as Elena is with Bonnie. Meredith is the other best friend of Elena. Meredith has been through everything with Elena. The two share a close friendship. Elena and Meredith have been through a lot ever since Stefan became Elena's boyfriend but eventually befriends and trusts Stefan. Meredith is wary of Damon at first but gains trust and he believes her to be a very skilled person. Meredith believes that Damon is taking advantage of Elena, emotionally, and warns both Elena and Bonnie that he dangerous. Matt Honeycutt Caroline Forbes Katherine von Schwarzschild Biography Elena Gilbert is the heroine and the protagonist of The Vampire Diaries book series. Her soulmate and true love is centuries old vampire, Stefan Salvatore. Stefan's elder, dangerous and malevolent vampire brother who follows him to Fells Church is Damon Salvatore. Elena was born in Fells Church, Virginia. Elena starts off the series as being the most beautiful, popular girl at Robert E. Lee High School. Although she is very beautiful and popular, Elena initially comes off as very vain, selfish, headstrong and spoiled. Upon meeting Stefan, Elena feels an immediate, indescribable and intense connection and attraction to him that she cannot describe in words. She is deeply, passionately, and strongly in love with Stefan, but she also finds herself drawn to his manevolent and dangerous brother, Damon. Elena has endured much pain and tragedy in her young lifetime. Both of her parents died in a fatal car crash when she was younger, and she is raised by her Aunt Judith. Elena is very beautiful, and ibecause of this, is able to have any boy she wants. All the boys in Fell's Church want her, and all the girls in Fells Church want to be like her. Elena has a younger four year old sister named Margaret. At first, Stefan avoids Elena because of her strong resemblance to his ex vampire-girlfriend Katherine and also because of the intense attraction they have for each other. Damon also becomes interested in Elena because of her physical resemblance to Katherine. Elena is very caring and willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to keep her loved ones safe. Elena appears in all the books and is the main protagonist. She is best friends with Bonnie McCollough, a bubbly, charming and perky redhead who is a strong psychic with witch ancestry, and Meredith Sulez, an insightful, intelligent and practical brunette who always gives wise advice. Elena used to be friends with Caroline Forbes, but when school starts again, Caroline becomes Elena's rival. When Stefan Salvatore enrols at the school, Elena feels intensely drawn to him and promises to herself that shewill have him, "even if it kills them both." Caroline also takes an interest in Stefan, causing the rivalry between her and Elena to heat up intensely. Caroline says to Elena that she might be losing her popularity, and status as "Queen Of The School." Caroline gets a date with Stefan at the homecoming dance, and Elena tries to get Stefan to dance with her before Caroline foils her plans, coming back and saying that Elena looks "so pretty", and asks Elena if she minds that Caroline will be dancing with Stefan. However, in the end, Elena is the one who receives Stefan's affections and the two eventually (but quickly) fall deeply, intensely and strongly in love with each other. Although Stefan and Elena always find absolute happiness, contentedness and bliss with each other, Elena's relationship with Stefan has been rather tumultuous and chaotic throughout the course of the series. Most of this is due to Stefan's tortured, dark and mysterious past and him keeping his centuries old dark secret of being a vampire from Elena. Aside from both of Stefan and Elena's personal issues and struggles, many different and various obstacles often try to keep Stefan and Elena from being together, one of those obstacles being Stefan's elder dangerous brother, Damon. Elena has a highly complicated relationship with Damon. Damon has repeatedly tried to make advances at Elena, but she repeatedly rejects Damon's wishes and advances and has remained stoically loyal to her strong and deep love for Stefan. This strongly angers Damon and he often reacts in jealousy and rage as a result. Early History Elena Gilbert was born and raised in Fell's Church, Virginia, United States. She had been childhood friends with Caroline Forbes, Meredith Sulez and Bonnie McCullough since the first grade. When she around 14 years old, both of her parents died in a tragic car accident and she and her little sister Margaret, were given custody to Judith Gilbert, her paternal aunt who became Elena and Margaret's legal guardian. Books In the television series, Elena is portrayed by Nina Dobrev. Elena Gilbert is a 17 year old high school girl who lives in Mystic Falls, Virginia with her aunt, Jenna Sommers and her younger adoptive brother . She is significantly different than her book counterpart. Several differences are parts of her personality, and her physical appearance. In the novels, Elena has fair skin, blonde hair and eyes the color of Lapis Lazuli. On the TV series, however, Elena has olive skin, long, straight chocolate brown hair and deep brown eyes. In the novels, Elena's personality is slightly shallow and selfish but still a good person but on the TV series, Elena is more kind-hearted, warm and compassionate towards others. On the TV series, Elena is quiet, withdrawn and melancholy. It is revealed that the reason for this is the death of her parents, a few months beforehand. Her friends reveal that before her parents' death, she was active, popular and cheerful, and that her recent change in behavior is due to her loss. As the show progresses, she begins to regain some of her 'pep'; meeting Stefan was the main reason for this. Elena has been shown to be very protective of her family, very astute, with high moral standards. She displays deep affection for her friends, and often takes it upon herself to worry about people who don't expect or welcome her concern. Elena is also very stubborn and feisty. She's very direct and prefers to confront people head-on as opposed to keeping her anger bottled up. She displays trust in Stefan, Damon and others, despite their past actions and recent transgressions. Elena is adopted and both of her adoptive parents, Grayson and Miranda Gilbert, died in a tragic car accident (something shared with the novels). Elena finds out that her biological mother is Isobel Saltzman, a 16 year old teenager who gave birth to her, abandoned her and chose to be transformed into a vampire and that her biological father is actually her paternal uncle, John Gilbert, who is Grayson's younger brother. Elena also finds out about her distant lineage and discovers that she is related to and a descendant of Katherine Pierce, the vampire whom both Salvatore brothers fell in love with back in 1864. She is the doppelganger of Katherine, hence why they both bear such a striking resemblance to one another. Trivia * Elena's first name means "light" or "bright one". * Elena's grandmother kept a jar of crystallized violets. * Elena wears violet perfume. * Elena doesn't eat very much. * Elena loves coffee and prefers drinking coffee over eating. * Elena quit the debate team some time before her Senior year in high school. * Elena prefers baths over showers. * Elena doesn't own her own car. * Elena was transformed into a vampire by both Stefan and Damon Salvatore. Elena received blood from Stefan during their intimate blood sharing moments and Elena received blood from Damon when he fed from her during her sleep (and used dream manipulation to make Elena dream about him) and fed her his blood afterwards. * Elena is connected and linked to Stefan by a silver cord. This is known as the Soulmate Principle. * Elena is handspan taller than Katherine, according to Stefan. * Elena's favourite hobby is writing in her diary. * As a Guardian, Elena shares the same physical traits as other Guardians, which is light blonde hair and deep blue eyes. See also fr:Elena Gilbert (livres) Category:Protagonists Category:Humans Category:Gilbert Family Category:Novel Characters Category:Main Characters Category:Supernatural Category:Angels